"Wait."
A low male voice echoed in the dilapidated tiled house.
Kozuki Toki's body stiffened abruptly.
She stood at the doorway, one foot already stepping into the cold wind.
She did not turn around, nor did she have the courage or face to confront this noble Navy Admiral.
Tap. Tap.
The sound of military boots stepping on the wooden floor was steady and powerful.
Kane took long strides, walking unhurriedly to a spot three feet behind the woman before stopping.
He looked at the frail, trembling back before him, shivering from extreme self-loathing and despair.
He took a deep breath, then let out a long sigh, as if expending all the strength in his body.
"Madam, as a Navy officer, my duty is to cleanse the sins upon this sea."
"Whether they occur in Affiliated Countries or Non-Affiliated Countries."
Kozuki Toki turned stiffly.
Her eyes brimmed with tears, unable to comprehend the deeper meaning behind Kane's decision to revisit this matter now.
"But..." Kane's tone shifted abruptly.
His sword-like brows furrowed tightly, his handsome face now etched with extreme struggle and anguish.
"After all, I am the highest combat force under the World Government. Every move I make represents the face of Marine Headquarters."
"If I forcibly interfere in Wano Country's internal affairs, mobilizing fleets to wage a full-scale war against the Beast Pirates in my capacity as an Admiral... I will inevitably face accountability from the World Government, even implicating countless colleagues, and ultimately be brought before a Military Tribunal."
Kane spoke slowly, portraying a tragic hero who cared for the people yet was bound by cold military regulations with vivid realism.
"Is there... truly no way at all?" Kozuki Toki completely broke down.
Her knees weakened, and her entire body collapsed onto the cold floor as if her spine had been pulled out, gazing at Kane in despair.
"There is."
A short, forceful syllable struck the room.
Kozuki Toki abruptly raised her head.
A faint glimmer of hope instantly ignited in those dim eyes.
Kane looked down at this pitiful widow.
He slowly crouched down, gradually extending both hands, patiently and gently cupping Kozuki Toki's delicate face, stained with tears and grime.
The man's palms were broad, the warm skin of his hands rubbing against her tender skin, conveying an undeniable sense of control.
"There is only one way to break this deadlock." Kane's gaze was profound, his voice lowered.
"That is to turn state affairs into family matters."
"To turn public enmity into private vendetta."
Kozuki Toki stared at him blankly, her mind a complete void, utterly unable to keep up with his leap in logic.
"As a Navy Admiral, I absolutely cannot intervene in the name of the military."
Kane's thumb tenderly wiped away the tears at the corner of the woman's eye, his fingertip intentionally or unintentionally brushing past her warm, moist lips.
"But... if I form an inseparable 'bond' with you, Madam..."
"Then all of this becomes my, Kane's, 'private vendetta,' and my 'family matter.'"
These words struck Kozuki Toki's ears like a thunderclap from a clear sky.
Form a bond? Private vendetta? Family matter?
These words fermented wildly in her mind.
Her cheeks suddenly burned, and even the roots of her ears turned crimson.
She understood! She finally grasped the Admiral's meaning!
As long as she became Kane's woman.
Then when Kane drew his blade against Kaido, it would be to seek justice for his own woman.
Who would dare use Navy regulations to slander a man fighting for his family's honor? The World Government couldn't find a single fault with it!
It was a nearly perfect excuse!
"For the hundreds of thousands of suffering people in Wano Country, to help you reclaim your blood debt..."
Kane lowered his eyelids slightly, his Justice-filled face revealing a tragic determination to face death.
"I, Kane, am willing to bear this sin that defies morality and military discipline! Let me... persist in this error!"
Boom—!
Kozuki Toki's psychological defenses were completely, utterly shattered into dust at this moment!
What a wonderful man!
She gazed at this impossibly handsome face before her, at those eyes filled with the sorrow of "sacrificing personal honor for the greater good," moved beyond words.
Her previous thoughts had been too filthy, too shallow!
She had thought Kane pushed her away earlier because he despised her tainted state.
But she never imagined that this Admiral of the highest moral character, in order to legitimately save this land, was even willing to sacrifice his own spotless reputation!
What a great, selfless sacrifice!
What a profound debt of gratitude!
"Admiral..." Kozuki Toki wept, gasping for breath between sobs.
All sense of shame was replaced by an almost fanatical reverence and gratitude. She could no longer suppress the emotions within her, her hands actively climbing onto Kane's broad, sturdy shoulders.
Rising on her toes, she closed her eyes and offered her trembling red lips upward in devotion.
Softness met softness.
Kane wrapped one arm around her slender waist, effortlessly lifting the woman into a bridal carry.
Outwardly, he maintained that pained, resolute "for Justice" expression, even his brow slightly furrowed.
But deep within his heart at this moment...
The soul of Cao Cao burned fiercely, the Jian'an spirit fully unleashed.
Bliss! Damn blissful!
Sleeping with another man's wife, taking another man's country, and still making that man's wife feel grateful and indebted, viewing him as a divine blessing and salvation.
This rhetoric combined with Oscar-worthy acting was simply invincible!
Kane walked with steady steps, holding the warm, soft figure in his arms, moving step by step toward the narrow wooden bed in the inner room.
Kozuki Toki clung tightly to his neck, burying her head against his broad chest, afraid this was a dream she might wake from at any moment.
The kimono slipped down pale skin to the floor.
A few cold drafts crept through the leaky window cracks, making the charcoal in the hearth flicker dimly.
In the swaying firelight, the worn wooden bed emitted faint, strained creaks.
Outside the window, fierce winds howled and torrential rain poured down, mercilessly washing over this scarred land.
Yet inside this dilapidated hut, the temperature steadily rose.
Long-suppressed sobs gradually turned into intermittent murmurs, intertwining with a primal rhythm in this desperate rainy night, weaving into an absurd hymn.
...
The scene pulls back.
Across a mountain ridge, in Kuri's market.
The streets were littered with war debris, houses collapsed, rubble everywhere.
The common folk had long been seized for labor in the quarries; not a soul could be found in any direction.
The only thing moving was a completely naked, powerfully built man.
Kozuki Oden.
The torrential rain pounded down on him, drenching his iconic topknot until it resembled a clump of rotten seaweed.
Barefoot, he danced with rapt concentration in a puddle of mud mixed with blood and filth.
"Heh ha! Twist left, twist right! Thrust those hips forward!"
Oden planted his hands on his hips, stuck out his sizable rear, and spun wildly in the muddy water.
The subconscious hatred for his homeland and its enemies had been completely erased by the Kotoamatsukami. His mind held no concept of a wife or children.
Only dancing! Only this ludicrous rhythm could grant him supreme pleasure and satisfaction!
Not far away, the unseeing corpses of several samurai lay with eyes wide open, staring vacantly at the lord they had once sworn to serve unto death.
A stray dog with sparse fur sauntered over and stopped at the edge of the mud pit.
The dog cast an extremely disdainful glance at this naked human having a fit in the rain, then lifted its hind leg and pissed a stream of yellow urine onto the loincloth Oden had discarded nearby. It shook its fur and trotted off without a backward glance.
Oden remained utterly oblivious, dancing even more vigorously instead.
"Oh yeah! I am the Dance King of Wano Country! Everyone, dance with me!"
How absurd. How ironic.
His country had been swallowed by pirates, his loyal retainers slaughtered to the last man, his eldest son crushed into a pulp of flesh.
And his lawfully wedded wife was at this very moment, in the arms of another man, "repaying" that man's great kindness in the most primal way.
This cuckold's hat, meticulously woven by a Navy Admiral, fit perfectly upon his head.
So green it shone, so green it shook the heavens and earth!
Yet he himself, right here in this muddy pit, tirelessly twisted his body, completely unaware of it all.
...
Deep inside the dilapidated house.
The creaking of the wooden bed finally, after who knows how long, gradually subsided.
Kane leaned against the headboard, idly playing with the woman's silky long hair with one hand.
Kozuki Toki, like a well-behaved kitten that had exhausted all its strength, lay limp and fast asleep on his broad chest. Yet a trace of serene peace, born of complete release, lingered at the corner of her mouth.
The mechanical prompt tone sounded punctually in his mind.
[Ding—]
[System detects extreme disciplinary violation behavior!]
[Behavior Assessment: Possession of a core female character through extremely hypocritical and despicable means, and placing the perfect cuckold's hat upon the Fate Character Kozuki Oden!]
[Event Analysis: Committing the deeds of a villain under the guise of Justice. Not only has the core causality of the original plot been destroyed, but the victim's family member is also grateful and indebted.]
[Subversion Coefficient: Severely violates Navy moral code!]
[System Evaluation: Even the military dogs of Marineford possess far higher moral standards than you.]
[Final Settlement: Violation Value +150,000!]
Kane looked at the blue light screen projected onto his retina, watching the long string of numbers change.
Remaining Violation Value: 3,709,500 points.
He let out a scornful mental sneer.
Moral bottom line? Can that thing be exchanged for the Divine Domain? Can it allow him to suppress Imu?
Does it feel good?
Kane's slender fingers lightly traced the smooth, pale skin of Kozuki Toki's back. The woman in his arms whimpered softly and snuggled even more tightly against him.
"Sleep, my lady. This is only the beginning."
Kane narrowed his deep-set eyes slightly; those same eyes that had just been filled with "compassion for the world" were now brimming with icy calculation.